(Winter Olympics) Lee Sang-hwa wins women's 500 meter speed skating gold

(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with details and interview)
VANCOUVER, Feb. 16 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's Lee Sang-hwa won gold in the women's
500-meter speed skating event at the Vancouver Winter Olympics on Tuesday,
becoming the first Asian female skater to win an Olympic speed skating event.
Lee, who turns 21 next Thursday, took the lead after the first run with 38.249
seconds in the event held at the Richmond Olympic Oval and timed 37.850 seconds
in the second race to top the list with 76.09 seconds in total.
Germany's Jenny Wolf finished second by five hundredths of a second with 76.14
and China's Wang Beixing stood third with 76.63 seconds.
"It is unbelievable that I have won a gold medal," Lee told reporters after the
match. "My coach told me after the second race I did well. But I could hardly
expect that my name was on the top of the scoreboard."
"Frankly, I was very nervous last night. But I listened to classical music this
morning and regained calm on arriving at the ice. Then I did my best," Lee added.
With the stunning victory, Lee became the first Asian woman to win gold in any of
Olympic speed skating events -- 500m, 1,000m, 1,500ï½?, 3,000ï½? and 5,000ï½?.
Her triumph also marked the first time a South Korean woman has won any medal in
the Olympic speed skating events since South Korea first participated in the
winter Olympics in St. Moritz in 1948. Only short track speed skaters have
brought home gold medals in previous Olympics.
South Korea has now won both 500m events for men and women in speed skating in
this Olympics. Mo Tae-bum, one of her compatriots, captured gold in the men's
500m event on Monday.
It is the first time a single nation has won both men's and women's 500m races at
the Olympics.
"I cried in Turin after failing to take a medal. But today, it's tears of joy,"
said Lee who burst into tears when she sealed her victory.
Lee finished fifth in Turin four years ago and came to Vancouver after winning
the world championship tournament last month. She stood third at the world
rankings after world-record holder Wolf of Germany and Chinese Beixing.
North Korean Ko Hyon-suk ranked ninth with a combined time of 77.47 seconds.
On Saturday, South Korea's Lee Seung-hoon grabbed silver in the men's 5,000m
event, the first Asian Olympic medal in a long-distance race.
Mo's gold medal was the first-ever Winter Olympic gold for South Korea outside
short track speed skating, which has collected seven golds so far.
brk@yna.co.kr
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